In one go, on Thursday afternoon, UEFA published the candidates for Europe’s footballer and coach of the year. In the election organized by UEFA in cooperation with European Sports Media (ESM) under the aegis of kicker, the most votes went to treble winner Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Champions League finalist Simone Inzaghi (Inter Milan) and Serie- A Champion Luciano Spalletti (SSC Napoli). On August 31, the winner will be chosen as part of the Champions League draw.
Guardiola is certainly the top favorite after his splendid season with ManCity, which ended up being crowned with the long-awaited Champions League title. In the Premier League, the Skyblues outperformed Arsenal, who had supposedly rushed in the meantime, with a strong series and ultimately became champions with a five-point lead. On Wednesday evening, Guardiola also won the UEFA Supercup with City – he was the first coach ever to win this trophy with three different teams (previously with Barcelona and Bayern Munich).
Inzaghi would also have liked to contest the Supercup in Piraeus with Inter, but the traditional club from Milan was narrowly defeated by favorite ManCity in the Champions League final on June 10 in Istanbul (0:1). In Serie A, the Italian once again confidently led his team into the premier class in third place. In addition, Inzaghi successfully defended the Coppa Italia with the Nerazzurri by beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final.
Spalletti, who led Napoli to their first Scudetto in 33 years, can also count on the individual award. After the big hit, the 64-year-old “threw up” – and at the end of May said: “I don’t know if you can call it a sabbatical, but it will be a year without work. I will not train Napoli or any other team.” Most recently, he was associated with the vacant national coaching position in Italy.
De Zerbi ahead of Arteta and Deschamps
Places 4 to 10 are even more exciting than the final selection of the coaches. Brighton’s high-flyer Roberto de Zerbi, to whom Guardiola made a veritable declaration of love at the end of May and called him “one of the most influential coaches of the last 20 years”, just missed out on the podium. The Italian received 70 votes. 67 to Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), 49 to Zlatko Dalic (Croatia national coach), 28 to José Luis Mendilibar (Seville), 26 to France national coach Didier Deschamps, 22 to Conference League winner David Moyes (West Ham) and eleven to Lens -Successful coach Franck Haise.
According to UEFA, the candidates for the two women’s elections will be published next week – i.e. after the end of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
